Thai-ing one on

May 19, 2015

Fish cakes, and this sauce rocks.

Because I felt like it. I didn’t feel like beef, or chicken, not to mention both were frozen. Didn’t feel like ham, also frozen, but it wouldn’t take long to thaw some out. Wanted something light. There were frozen tilapia filets in the freezer.

Aha, says I. Fish cakes! I had been wanting fish cakes since I saw a recipe for them … somewhere, that called for poaching the fish in white wine and then flaking it and using it like crabmeat, as if you were making a crabcake. Sounded good.

So I went looking for that recipe, which of course I could not find. I did find this one, though, for Thai fish cakes.

“Self?” I said. “You like Thai food. Let’s give this a try.”

And self agreed that we’d take that for a whirl.

Wasn’t half bad. Had I been hungrier — I got hit with a serious craving about 4 and snacked, with the result that I wasn’t hungry at six-ish when it came time to eat — they would have been better. I’ll definitely try them again.

I made a few changes from the recipe. I didn’t have whatever kind of bean that was, so I used chopped snow peas, being that I had them from the market. I didn’t have a red chili pepper, which I assume would be a bird chile, so I used a teaspoon of red chile paste. I used two about 6-ounce tilapia filets, so more fish than called for (it make five small fish cakes). Oh, and as my cilantro plant is still well in its rookie phase, I didn’t have enough cilantro to make the called-for 1/3 cup, so I used some mint as well, on the basis a lot of SE Asian cookery uses mint. And I used dried kaffir lime leaf, as that’s what I had.

The cakes held together well, which was the first good thing. They didn’t fry up real crisp, but that may have been an issue of not having the oil hot enough. They were quite tasty with a dipping sauce made of mayo, sweet chili garlic sauce, and soy sauce.

In a triumphant combination of refrigerator cleanout and the kind of Southern fusion that just occurs in the summer, we had them with leftover green beans and new potatoes, and zucchini fritters. Because the zucchini needed to be used, as did the green beans. Sue me.

Elsewhere in the wider world today, I cleaned out a closet and got rid of 40-odd pieces of clothing I no longer wear. I feel quite virtuous, not to mention being able to find things in my closet again. Given I already gave away two pairs of shoes this month, I’m ahead of the game for May in minimalizing (the challenge being to get rid of an item a day, all year). It was a resolution this year to get rid of a lot of this…stuff I’ve accumulated over the years, a resolution I think may have to be extended over a period of years, and to not replace it with other “stuff.” I’m doing pretty good, really, on the not replacing part; I’ve bought very few clothes, no shoes (!), no purses (!!) and little else for elsewhere in the house.

Cleaning out closets today was like buying new clothes, though. Found stuff I’d forgotten I had. Like having new stuff.

Didn’t get all I wanted to do done in the kitchen or elsewhere in the house. Working for a living intervened (dammit). Tomorrow, I’m going to try the strawberry bread, again. And for some unGodly reason — they’re NOT a spring food! — I’ve had short ribs on my mind. I also have a big honkin’ piece of brisket in the freezer that I’m contemplating what to do with. Wonder if I could sous vide it and smoke it? That ought to be good.

I’ll ponder on it, and watch the Cards and the Mets (horrendous uniforms the Mets are sporting tonight, btw). You ‘n y’mama ‘n ’em clean out a closet. It’ll make you feel virtuous.